Bright's Passage by Josh Ritter

Henry Bright has newly returned to West Virginia from the battlefields of the First World War. Griefstruck by the death of his young wife and unsure of how to care for the infant son she left behind, Bright is soon confronted by the destruction of the only home he’s ever known. His hopes for safety rest with the angel who has followed him to Appalachia from the trenches of France and who now promises to protect him and his son. Haunted by the abiding nightmare of his experiences in the war and shadowed by his dead wife’s father, the Colonel, and his two brutal sons, Bright—along with his newborn—makes his way through a ravaged landscape toward an uncertain salvation. DON’T MISS THE EXCLUSIVE CONVERSATION BETWEEN JOSH RITTER AND NEIL GAIMAN IN THE BACK OF THE BOOK.

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The New York Times

The fact that Rachel is Henry’s first cousin doesn’t seem to concern either Henry or his angel, who — speaking through Henry’s horse — officiates at the jackleg marriage ceremony in a backwoods farmyard.

Publishers Weekly

Henry's desolation is believably crushing, sometimes darkly funny, and rendered with a lyricist's delicacy: against the backdrop of the forest fire sparked by the cabin's blaze, Henry, the child, horse, and a goat make their way to town, dodging his wife's psychotic family, who blame him for her ...

The Wall Street Journal

(On the evidence of the Great War, the angel considers the current King inadequate.) Bright is incredulous at the angel's increasingly zealous demands, and Mr. Ritter shows a fine comic touch in the crabby contretemps between the reluctant backwoods prophet and his mangy horse.

AV Club

Throughout the opening chapter, Ritter continues to drop in references to an “angel” Bright converses with, an angel whose suggestions occasionally save Bright’s life, but occasionally lead to terror and destruction, as when it suggests Bright burn down his cabin to evade the pursuit of the Colon...

Los Angeles Times

'Henry Bright,' the angel said, finally breaking the silence, 'do as I say.'" Bright sets the fire and after he departs, it begins to spread to the forest behind him, growing into a full-fledged wildfire heading toward the same town he is.

Gather Books

The angel also tells Henry to burn down his cabin, which unfortunately leads to a wildfire that threatens to burn down a large chunk of West Virginia.With his baby, the horse, and a goat, Henry tries to stay ahead of the fire and winds up in a coal-mining company town where he finds refuge at a h...

Historical Novel Society

Josh Ritter’s Bright’s Passage tells the story of Henry Bright, who returns from military service in World War I to steal away his “wife,” Rachel, and reclaim his mother’s dilapidated cabin the West Virginia mountains.

Independent.ie

While closer in quality to Vlautin's books than Eminem's acting, Bright's Passage isn't quite there as a great novel: it signposts a potentially significant talent, but as Stephen King said in review, "Ritter has not ...